$1.59

Beet, Apple, + Cinnamon Fruit and Veggie Strips by Veggie-Go

Oh, gosh, how do I love beets. Earthy, red, potent . . . they're just divine. Beets are so powerful that they were part of a key plot point in one of my favorite novels—now that's an intense vegetable. Making a beet leather, however, needs a tiny bit of assistance. That's where Veggie-Go calls in a bit of cinnamon and a touch of apples to lighten up the leather. The result is a warming chewy snack, equally as delicous to those who aleady march to the beet beat as it does to the beetophobes. ~

For the true, true stories behind this incredible foodstuff, read on.

Leather. Roll-up. Dehydrated strips. So far, the general terminology for those pliable sheets of sweet snacking have been, well, lacking. This is too bad since fruit leather is usually quite a tasty treat, although often full of extra sweeteners and fillers. Enter the wonderfully named Veggie-Go fruit and veggie snacks, a combination of fruit AND vegetables in sweet harmony, with hints of spice where appropriate.

Each of these flaming crimson and nearly savory strips packs a load of beets, softened by the sweetness of apples, the heft of sweet potatoes, and a finale of purely warming cinnamon. Sweet Potatoes? It's a backbeat that might not be noticed, but the potatoes contribute some fiber and carotenoids to the party. I love the flavor because it is almost savory . . . but not quite. With each package counting for a half-serving of vegetables and a half-serving of fruit, you've got some serious nutritional bases covered. Not like most of us need a fruit leather to bump up our recommended daily veggie consumption, but each extra bit of nutrition is A-OK for anyone, paleo or not.

One thing you'll notice with these strips: they are CHEWY. Really wonderfully chewy, not easy to dissolve, not yielding to the slightest chomp. This gives a level of satisfaction that isn't present in many fruit and nut bars, or even crispy dried fruits. Though the strips are small, they pack a jaw-working punch far bigger than their heft. Be prepared to work out sweet bits from your teeth for a few minutes after you eat this—that's one caveat emptor I'm willing to take.

Beets, beets, the musical fruit . . . no wait, that's not it. Nevermind. Honestly, even the beet skeptics will love this fruit and veggie leather because of that lovely cinnamon that wafts through each chewy bite. The apple, of course, gives some tart and sweetness in a different way from the beets, and the sprinkling of flaxseeds is a curious but nifty burst of texture as you chomp your way through the bar. Not overly sweet, this is a grownup kind of fruit leather.

Why Cinnamon Spice Beet Veggie-Go is so good for you

No Added Sugar! – We don’t add any sweeteners at all! We feel that whole fruits and veggies have the perfect amount of natural sugar. Each strip only has 2-4 grams of sugar, all naturally occurring in the fruits and veggies. Unlike most conventional fruit strips, we do not use any fruit concentrates for added sweetness.

Organic – Veggie-Go’s are made from only organic fruits and veggies. By only using organic fruits and vegetables we insure that no unwanted pesticides or toxic chemicals are sneaking into your body. When things are dried (like Veggie-Go’s and all fruit strips are), everything in them is concentrated. This includes any pesticides or chemicals. This means that choosing organic is even more important with dried snacks. Another benefit is that organic produce has to use and continually develop its own natural disease defenders (antioxidants) rather than suppressing them when they are protected by pesticides in conventional practices.

100% natural. Nothing funny here. We are not “tricking” your body! If it smells like cinnamon, it's cinnamon. If it tastes like berries, it's berries. Imagine that!

Whole Foods – Veggie-Go’s are made from whole fruits and whole veggies. We puree the whole fruit or veggie so that you are getting all of the goodness nature has to offer.

A truly healthy snack for kids! – Kid’s snacks tend to be loaded with sugar, artificial flavorings and colors. Not Veggie-Go’s, with less than 4g of sugar, all from the fruits and veggies themselves, and never artificial colors or flavors. We think organic fruits and veggies are plenty colorful and flavorful!

Here are some of the amazing ingredients in Veggie-Go's Beet:

Beets

Who says root vegetables have to be boring? This one can stain your skin a lovely shade of pink for several minutes at a time. I find that to be a pretty cool attribute of beets.

Beets are a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains. Betanin and vulgaxanthin are the two best-studied betalains from beets, and both have been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support. The detox support provided by betalains includes support of some especially important Phase 2 detox steps involving glutathione. The concentration of betalains in the peel and flesh of beets gives you an unexpectedly great opportunity for these health benefits.

In recent lab studies on human tumor cells, betanin pigments from beets have been shown to lessen tumor cell growth through a number of mechanisms, including inhibition of pro-inflammatory enzymes. The tumor cell types tested in these studies include tumor cells from colon, stomach, nerve, lung, breast, prostate and testicular tissue. While lab studies by themselves are not proof of beets' anti-cancer benefits, the results of these studies are encouraging researchers to look more closely than ever at the value of betanins and other betalains in beets for both prevention and treatment of certain cancer types.

How to eat Veggie-Gos:

Fruit leather has at least one thing going for it (including Veggie-Gos): it is pretty indestructible. Here are places you could stash a few packs and have some reasonable assurance they'd still be intact after the zombie apocalypse:

Your gym bag

Desk drawer

Pocket of yoga pants / running shorts / lulu-things

That epic black hole of a purse or messenger bag you carry around

Car door pocket

Your cupboards

Any friend's cupboards where you regularly visit and they forget that you rarely eat ice cream for dessert and yet you have this wee little craving for something sweet...

Nightstand drawer

Medicine cabinet

Geocache box

Kid's backpack (especially the kale flavor, since it's green)

In the cookie jar

Use as a bookmark

Your glovebox

Under the seat of your car because it fell out of the door pocket and ever since then you've not been able to find it....

About Veggie-Go, in their own words

We started making Veggie-Go’s in January 2011 after returning home to Boulder, Colorado after a year of living, working, and most importantly eating on organic farms in Greece, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and France. We became addicted to the way we were eating on the farms where our diets were made up almost entirely of the fresh, organic produce we were growing.

Upon returning home we were shocked by the American way of eating and what was being called “food”. We decided to take matters into our own hands and create a snack the embodied the fresh, organic produce we were growing; but that also fit into the American on-the-go lifestyle. And thus Veggie-Go’s were born!

Our initial goal was simply to sell Veggie-Go’s at our local farmers market. The response was overwhelmingly positive and our customers encouraged us to try to get Veggie-Go’s into some of the local health food stores. As soon as we did, we quickly realized that we were the only ones putting veggies in a fruit leather. That just added fuel to our fire and ever since we have been working tirelessly to bring Veggie-Go’s to a store near you!

Lisa - Founder and PresidentLisais a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and a Certified Personal Trainer with a B.A. in Integrative Physiology from the University of Colorado. Lisa owns the personal training practice Body Intelligence Fitness in Boulder, CO. As well as having a passion for fitness and nutrition, Lisa loves hiking and rock climbing.

John - Founder and CEOJohn developed a passion for sustainable food while earning a B.S. in mechanical engineering at The University of Colorado. John loves cooking, rock climbing, and traveling.

Even more about Veggie-Go and their commitment to health and sustainability

Organic – We feel that the number one way we can make Veggie-Go’s a sustainable choice for your snack and make a positive impact on our world is by committing fully to organic. We only use organic ingredients and organic processing methods to make Veggie-Go’s. Not only does this mean that there are no chemicals or pesticides getting into your Veggie-Go’s, it also means that fossil fuels are not being used to fix nitrogen into chemical fertilizer or to make pesticides. As much as forty percent of energy used in the food system goes towards the production of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Organic farming also ensures that nothing nasty is being introduced into our water systems. After all, we are all downstream.

Non-GMO – As well as being Organic, Veggie-Go’s are also verified Non-GMO by The Non-GMO project. The effects that GMOs have on our bodies are still unknown in the long term. We don’t think our kids should be the guinea pigs.

Wrap – This is one of the most challenging aspects to being a sustainable snack, and unfortunately there is not a truly sustainable option out there right now. Our solution is to use the smallest amount of plastic that we can, while continuing to search for a better option. There are compostable wrappers out there, and in fact we used them when we started. The problem is that the shelf life was too short and we had to throw our spoiled product, which is definitely not sustainable.

Here are answers to some of your most important questions!

Half a serving of fruits and veggies each? Really?

Every strip has 1/2 serving of fruit and 1/2 serving of veggies. This is because we start with about 1/4 cup of fruit and 1/4 cup of veggies which gets much smaller when dried.

Why Veggie-Gos and not some other kind of fruit leather?

The first difference is that we add tons of veggies into our Veggie-Go’s. We use whole, organic fruits and veggies. By using whole fruits and veggies you get all of the nutrients and goodness as nature intended. Most other fruit strips are made from fruit puree concentrate (usually apple) with a small amount of juice concentrate and flavors to give it the desired taste. That makes our competitors high in sugar and low in nutrition (not to mention flavor). Veggie-Go’s have no added sugar and only 2-4 grams of naturally occurring sugar. Most fruit strips have 8-12g.